Ocho Rios: fading glory

Tourist industry in danger as visitors avoid streets of the town

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

The Government is again being warned that unless it addresses the problem of visitor harassment quickly and firmly, the north coast resort town of Ocho Rios could die a slow, painful death.

Already a number of businesses in the town have closed their doors and Kumar Sujanani, president of the St Ann Chamber of Commerce, is warning that other business operators could pack up and leave shortly.

The future of Ocho Rios has been a talking point since the opening of a new cruise-shipping port in Falmouth, Trelawny.

But Sujanani told The Sunday Gleaner that while the Falmouth port will be a major blow for Ocho Rios, the frequent harassment of visitors in the north coast town is an even greater problem.

"I have been told by cruise-ship operators that if we could control our harassment on the streets of the town, we would have more ships here than we could possibly handle because we are by far the most beautiful port in the entire Jamaica," Sujanani said.

According to Sujanani, while there is some concern about the unsightly state of some sections of the town, that is not a complaint that he gets from the cruise-ship operators or the visitors.

"Although I agree that some sections of the town need to be cleaned up, that is not a priority for me. The priority is that we must become more visitor-friendly and we must create a town that is welcoming so when the visitors come off the ship, they feel free to walk.

"We can always buy paint and paint the damn town but the visitors won't even see the town at all."

He said the harassment problem has often been complained about by operators of the cruise lines which are now heading to Falmouth.

disorganised, undesirable

According to Sujanani: "The level of tourist harassment on the main streets of Ocho Rios is a contributing factor to why many of the cruise ships don't want to come to the port."

He said on mornings when the cruise ships dock in Ocho Rios, the pier is a mess with persons vying to attract the visitors.

"We have a situation that is disorganised, unregulated and certainly undesirable.

"The visitors, on disembarking from the cruise ships, face tremendous harassment," argued Sujanani.

That was a position supported by Michael Belnavis, a long-time member of the now silent Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Council.

"It is an absolute fact and the harassment is one reason why tourism in the town is stifling," Belnavis said.

He argued that visitors to Ocho Rios face different forms of harassment, including genuine traders who are desperate to get a share of the business.

"Then there is the harassment from the people on the streets who sell drugs and try to con people who look white, or the others who linger on the corner and offer themselves as tour guides, grabbing the arms of the visitors even when they say they are all right," said Belnavis.

"Even light-skinned Jamaicans are harassed when they walk through Ocho Rios," added Belnavis.

He is proposing a draconian approach which would zone the tourist area restricting access to people who have no business in the resort town.

"I know it sounds harsh but that is the only way to keep out the dangerous people who are restricting the growth of tourism in Ocho Rios."

In the meantime, Sujanani has scoffed at claims that big businesses have made arrangements with the cruise lines to have visitors taken directly to their attractions while squeezing out the small players such as the craft vendors.

The chamber president argued that the harassment on the streets is the main reason why the cruise ships bus their passengers to certain destinations once they arrive in Ocho Rios.

"The cruise ship has an obligation to inform its passengers what to expect when they get to a destination ... . If they have a tremendous amount of complaints about harassment, then the passengers will choose not to walk."

no blame for falmouth port

He argued that it is the people harassing the tourists who are killing "the goose which laid the golden egg" and not the opening of the Falmouth port.

"Certainly from a cruise-shipping perspective, Ocho Rios is going to see a significant decrease in visitor arrivals.

"In 2006, Ocho Rios got 865,000 cruise-ship passengers ... this year, because of the advent of Falmouth, it is estimated that 400,000 cruise-ship passengers will visit," Sujanani said.

"It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going to happen, and may I add that what we are losing are the ships that bring the more affluent clients," added Sujanani.

According to Sujanani, the loss of more than 400,000 cruise visitors will hurt the entire St Ann, with the negative impact spreading to sections of the neighbouring St Mary.

"I will tell you that in the two newest shopping centres in Ocho Rios, there have been closure of stores because people foresee the reduction in visitors. I can tell you that in Island Village Shopping Centre, in particular, I know of eight stores that are closed," said Sujanani.